The Taxi Ride
Chapter Twenty Nine: Vampires
A/N: A slight flashback to fill in the gaps on what happened to Bella in the meantime.
I had no idea where I was, but I was fucking terrified. Some weirdo, claiming to be a vampire, had kidnapped me and I didn't know where I was. I had been blinded, gagged, and my hands and feet tied together while being roughly carried over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He only dumped me down when he felt we would no longer be in danger of being chased. "Stay put here, snack," he said, chaining me to the radiator, or what I assumed was one. "I'll be back in a jiffy. Just have to make sure wolf boy and your precious little vampire girlfriend don't get in my way." And then he was off, leaving me hyperventilating and whimpering from fear for both myself and my friends.
There had to be a way out, a way to warn them. I struggled to free myself from my chains, screams muffled by the gag, but whatever he had done to me left me unable to even remove my blindfold. All I could do was dread over my situation. What the hell did he want from me? Was this Vicky's ex by any chance? He really was fucking insane.
The loud slamming of a door made me jump in my cramped position before the blindfold was snatched rudely off of my face. I blinked in the sudden brightness, stray tears falling down my cheeks. "Ah, the sight of fear and panic in your eyes," he murmured lovingly as he crouched down next to me. "I do love it."
"You're sick. A very sick man," I blurted out, shivering at his gentle touch on my chin.
"I stopped being a man long ago," he said, his red eyes glimmering.
"You're Vicky's ex. Why do you continue to try to hurt her and me. What have we ever done to you?" I ripped my head away from his touch, disgruntled with him, and not wanting him to touch me with his disgusting hands.
"Is that what she told you?" he looked amused, sharp teeth bared in a grin that was wavering between anger and laughter.
I shook my head yes.
"What rich lies. You are a fool to have believed her. I'm not her ex, I'm nothing to her. But to you, I will be your killer, the one who savors your blood."
Oh god I'm going to die, I thought to myself as fresh tears squeezed out of my eyes, warm with frustration at my current predicament.
"For I am a vampire!" he announced grandly, rising to his full height.
"Vampire?" I questioned, voice small. I had read up on vampires not so long ago because I'd had the strange notion that Victoria was one. And now this psycho was telling me they were real? I didn't know what to make of it, and the high stress situation I was in was not helping my thinking.
"Yes, a vampire. A being superior to you filthy humans. We are stronger, faster, more intelligent and more deadly." He grabbed the front of my shirt, lifting me up off the ground, feet dangling. "And I intend to savor you, drop for drop."
"What do you even want from me?" I sobbed, shaking in his hold.
"Isn't that clear? I'm a vampire. I want to feast on your life source, on your blood. And you have very special blood indeed. It's smell is quite exquisite and if I were a vampire of any less control than I would have ripped your throat out at first scent. But I am ancient and controlled and I waited patiently. I hunted you down despite your vampire clinging to you. And I will have you, uninterrupted." He dropped me none too gently. "Victoria and Jake will no longer get in my way."
"What did you do to them!"
"Nothing that shouldn't have been done long ago," he hissed out. "I find it so hilarious and ironic that you seem to condemn me for the actions I am about to purport whereas your red headed vampire was going to do the same to you."
"Vampires aren't real," I sputtered out, though the living (unliving?) and breathing (unbreathing?) evidence was right in front of me.
"You can think that all you want. I don't care if you disbelieve me until your last dying breath," he shrugged so I changed tactic.
"Victoria would never hurt me," I insisted. I know Victoria had hurt others- Jake, and Lauren- but never me. I could see it in her eyes, the soft care and protectiveness.
"Of course she would never hurt you," he spat in disgust at my naivety. "Because she was protecting her investment. Don't you know, she had hunted you down for your blood. She's a vampire, it's in her nature. Why she didn't pounce on you I do know, and the reason sickens me. It's what stopped her from draining you. But it didn't stop her from draining all those men."
"Those men?" I questioned, blinking back my tears. Maybe if I kept him talking I could delay him, give Victoria and Jake enough time to find me. I knew they couldn't or wouldn't fail me. They hadn't so far.
"Recall the fear on campus going around when white men were being targeted? And then all of a sudden it stopped? That was Victoria. She was killing those men, drinking their blood because she couldn't get to your blood yet and it's scent was driving her crazy," he pointed out.
My heart momentarily paused at that. "No...she couldn't." My voice was a gasp of horror.
"But she did."
"How do I know you didn't do it?" I wasn't ready to believe him. "Where is your proof?"
"Because white men aren't to my taste. I only hunt down those with superb blood. And again, I don't care if you don't believe me. Protect her to the end if you want but you're only hurting yourself by not seeing the truth to my words." He knelt down next to me, rubbing his thumb thoughtfully over the pulse in my neck. "You know, I'm half tempted to let you out of your binds and have you run before I hunt you down-"
That sounded like a great plan to me, gave me more time to think of an escape, to even try my escape.
"-but then again I've already spent all this time tailing you. I've waited long enough. I think I'll have you now."
In panic I blurted out, "tell me more about vampires. About yourself. About how evil Victoria is!"
He chuckled at my vain attempts at stalling. "I don't think so." Then he trailed his ice cold fingers down to my wrist. "I think I'll drain you through your wrist. Less blood this way so I can savor you more." And then, I watched in frozen fright as his fangs extended and he bit down on the pulse point there. I didn't even try to fight him. I knew I couldn't hurt him. I knew it was over. I was resigned to my fate.
The next couple of minutes were a blur. Something loud and black burst in through the doors of the studio he had captured and kept me hidden in, and the next thing I knew he was off of me and thrown right into the wall. But the pain in my wrist didn't end. It felt like burning. Like someone had stabbed me with a hot knife, and my blood kept coming out. Blood, my own blood. I couldn't stand the sight of it.
My eyes began to roll into the back of my head as I tried to fight for my consciousness.
"Quick, someone has to suck the poison out," a female voice cried out and I thought it sounded vaguely like Alice's voice. But that was wrong, what was she doing here?
"I have her," another familiar voice stated before I was swooped up into cold arms, everything dimming around me. The smell of pinewoods and evergreen filled my nose along with the rusty tang of my crimson-how could my blood even smell good when it smelt like loss to me? Then I felt a second pair of lips on my wrist before I mercifully blacked out.
I awoke with a huge groan of pain, my head throbbing and my wrist hurting. What had happened? Where was I?
As I slowly sat up I took in my surroundings and noticed I was in a nice room, lying on clean sheets. Hadn't I been...elsewhere, with a man whose eyes glowed red?My memories trickled back to me and I shuddered, gasping loudly as I looked down at my my now bandaged wrist. With sharp fingers I pulled the wrapping off and saw it, two dots, red and angry, where he had bit me.
Vampires were real.
Holy fuck.
And Victoria was one.
And I had almost died at the hand of one. But who had saved me? Was it Jake and Victoria? I was just about to toss the covers off of me when a knock came on the door. Was it them? "Come in," I called eagerly and my jaw dropped when I saw who had entered. It was Alice.
"Bella," she smiled softly, almost shyly, before launching herself at me and hugging me hard. "I was so worried about you. I thought you had gotten hurt, that you were going to die." She pulled away from me, looking me in the eyes. "Are you okay? Carlisle patched you up as best he could."
I stared at her impeccable features, at her pale skin, and the cold hands gripping my shoulders. Her eyes weren't red but she could be wearing contacts. "You're a vampire," I said plainly, almost with no reaction. I was still processing everything.
Her brows furrowed up. "Bella, what are you talking about? You're delirious from blood loss."
"James told me," I said. "He told me the truth. He was a vampire. He was going to kill me." I look back down at the holes on my wrist.
"Let's get that wrapped up again," she suggested, holding my wrist steady.
"You guys were the ones who saved me," I continued to speak as she re-wrapped my wrist. "I recall hearing your voice. And having Edward hold me." My voice hitched on Edward's name. I hadn't thought of him in a while. He had hurt me deeply and perhaps it was a hurt that would only fade with time until it was a small ball of pain, but one I could never truly dissolve.
"Bella..."
"How did you guys know to find me?"
Her lips twisted up as she struggled to find words to this. "I know you must have questions but-"
"Don't try to rationalize your way out of this," I said with steel in my voice. I needed answers.
"I thought you would be happy to see me-"
"Happy to see you!" I spat out, that ball of hurt growing larger in my chest. Edward wasn't the only one who had hurt me. They all had when they left me alone, and depressed in my last year of high school."You all left me, discarded me like I was an old toy!"
"We had to-"
"Don't give me that bullshit reason! I want the truth. I'm so tired of having the truth withheld from me. Jake and Victoria do it, and so do you guys. How is it that the villain is the only one whose told me the truth?" I was breathing hard now and exacerbating my headache.
"I think you should rest. Don't aggravate yourself too much," Alice suggested but there was panic in her eyes at my accusations.
Another person came up to my room. With his tousled hair and that crooked smile of his, he silently came up to my bed side. "Edward," I breathed out. His eyes glowed with affection for me, affection he didn't deserve to feel for me after all he did. "I knew you were here."
His smile faded. "Carlisle says we should tell her the truth," Edward told Alice whose back stiffened.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? The Volturi-"
"Bella already knows so much. We might as well explain the rest to her so she doesn't get confused. So she understands." He pulled up a chair and sat down heavily, massaging his temples. "Where to begin..." he mussed to himself. "Perhaps I might as well start with me. Bella, I died during the First World War..."
Bella lay flat on her back. Both vampires had left her alone after their revelations. With their words of apology and sorrow.
They indeed were vampires-the whole Cullen family. But they were vegetarians, preying only on animals, thus their eyes were golden. And they had powers of their own. Edward could read minds, though thankfully not Bella's, and Alice had premonitions. It was how they knew Bella was in danger, had seen her being attacked by James. They hadn't been able to see before all those months prior because something had been blocking Alice's powers.
And Bella's safety was exactly why they had left her. Bella was in danger hanging around them so they had left thinking they were making things better for her. After all, there were all the times Bella had hurt herself around their presence. Yet, trouble had still found her either way. And now, they were going to protect her again. Were going to ensure she was safe no matter if they had to spend all of the rest of Bella's life by her side.
She hadn't liked the sound of that. They couldn't just force themselves back into her life. They kept thinking they knew what was best, that because she was a mere human being and so young in their eyes, that she couldn't make smart decisions. But she could. And she wanted Jake and Victoria by her side. They were her true friends. They protected her without complaint-they didn't kick her aside in order to get rid of James, no, they got closer to her, forming a tight knit network.
She wondered where they were. If they were okay.
And Bella wanted to see Victoria with her new outlook, with the eyes of a person knowing the red head was a vampire.
But as Alice informed her, Victoria was currently in a cave recuperating. James had tried to kill her and Jake in an explosion, but both of them were fine, if not a little damaged though they were getting better. "I'm sure they'll come in when they're ready. Be patient." What Alice didn't mention was that she couldn't see Jake at all. It seemed wolves were not included in the range of her powers. But she knew he was alive because someone was tending to Victoria, watching over her.
So Bella would be patient, fingers twisting her sheets in agony of waiting and worrying, as she recovered from the vampire venom that had almost claimed her life. Wondering and waiting, and wondering and waiting, not knowing at all how she would great Victoria when she came back. Would she yell at her, claim the truth withholding as betrayal, or would she wrap her up in her shaking hands, glad to see her.
For now, she would sleep and try to stop thinking about the supernatural drama her life had become.
A/N: Skipped the background stories on the Cullen characters because pretty sure everyone is familiar with them, no use in rewritting it.
